The highlight of the planned events staged to mark the EU accession of Bulgaria and Romania will be the hoisting of the EU flag at the Victoria Palace (the governments offices) in Bucharest.

The official hoisting will take place on December 31, barely hours before Romania and Bulgaria become full members of the Union.

On the sidelines of outdoor events, there will be a gala concert at the Athenaeum and a dinner given by Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu. It will be attended also by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin.

Romanian, Bulgarian and European officials will then go to the Revolution Square, in downtown Bucharest, to celebrate the New Year and the EU entry together with the Bucharest residents.

A guard of honour will present arms and a brass band will play the EU anthem. The event will end in a sound and light show.

The EU accession will also be celebrated in the nearby University Square, which has become a traditional place for the Bucharesters to meet after the fall of communism in December 1989.

President Traian Basescu will also take part in the celebrations in University Square.

The events organized by the Romanian Government will be attended by European Parliament President Josep Borell, European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn, European Communication Commissioner Margot Wallstrom, Baroness Emma Nicholson, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ivaylo Kalfin, Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Moller, the Liberal Democrats' president in the European Parliament Graham Watson, German Parliament vice president Susanne Kastner, former chief of the European Commission Delegation in Bucharest Jonathan Scheele and Irish Environment Minister Dick Roche, T.D.

Special guest to the celebrations will be also German Foreign Minister Frank Walter Steinmeier, whose country takes over the presidency of the EU at midnight.

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